Monthly Archives: May 2010

Yet again, I’ve disappointed the blog and missed the Tuesday deadline. However, it was for good reason. By waiting a couple of days, I have something substantial, wonderful and life-changing to talk about – Glee. More specifically, the Glee live show that has made me a whole human being.

How does this ground-breaking television show translate to the stage? First, the large monitors have fun asides from the TV show. Sue Sylvester gives a little intro to the audience, telling us how disgusting the performance would be and how inflated the ticket prices were (she even had Cheerios hand out barf bags to the audience). Next to her, sexy Will Schuester defends his Glee kids and says that maybe, just maybe, we’re all in for a treat.

And indeed we were. The lights were turned down, and the infamous journey song began. Then, the entire cast joined along with fireworks and pyrotechnics that had us all in shivers. And what a spectacle it was! The dancing came alive on stage. Even songs that weren’t my favorite held my attention, such as Mercedes “Bust the Windows” done on car rolled on stage with bikini clad Cheerios in sync. And of course, Kurt’s “Single Ladies” routine never disappoints. Speaking of talented dancers, Britney not only had some hilarious banter, but her dancing ability shined on stage.

What was perhaps most rewarding for me, and for many Glee fans (Gleeks, to the more devoted fans), is the raw talent the cast has is not TV magic, just pure awesome. Many numbers on the show sound overproduced and auto-tuned, which makes one wonder if these 30-year-old kids can actually sing. On stage, it was so clearly natural ability and skill that was lighting my soul on fire. When Lea Michelle came into the crowd to sing “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” the mind-blowing, jaw-dropping voice was just incredible.When singing “Defying Gravity” with Kurt, my heart…there are no words. Other talents that you may have questioned, like the pussy cat dolls extra Santana, turns out can sing like no tomorrow.

The lavishness of the show was not lost on me. Vocal Adrenaline made an appearance with “Rehab” and “Mercy,” and they were just incredible. I’m not sure how New Directions can compete. The costumes were straight from the show, including the Lady Gaga inspired outfits for “Bad Romance,” (man, Kurt can rock those heels). When “Like a Prayer” came on, my lovely cousin Junice was in tears (for the third time), where fireworks went off and a choir did join them for a final chorus.

But let’s not forget the hotness factor. When Puck came into the crowd with his guitar and piercing eyes, I may have just died. His mohawk is back, and his muscles never left. I’ve never been a huge Finn fan, but on stage, he owns it. His stage presence was nothing short of sexy. His performance made my own mother say, “I was wrong about that Finn, he’s quite hot.” Though I’m uncomfortable with my mom checking out men, I had to agree.

There was a low point of the show (other than my seats in the back row), and that was the beginning. The opening act was the League of Extraordinary Dancers. They were, as promised, extraordinary. I’d never seen people move like that, impressive doesn’t begin to describe it. However, after a half hour of that, we had a 35 minute break until the show actually started! My otherwise patient self was compromised; I was not pleased.

I’d have to end with something that was so spectacular, I’m sure they did it just for me. One of their last numbers was a medley of Journey songs that haven’t been on the show yet, including “Anyway You Want It” and “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’.” As if that weren’t awesome enough, the pyrotechnics along with it kicked it up about a thousand notches.

Overall, it was everything you love about the show on stage. Lovable characters, amazing cast chemistry and, most of all, the most unbelievable talent I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. Sure, maybe I Gleeked out more than my preteen seat neighbors and screamed like a mental patient, but I regret nothing. YAY GLEE!

First off, apologies to faithful blog readers. This Tuesday deadline should not be so hard to stick to, but due to extenuating circumstances of being away, one night involving a specialty rum and specialty tequila bar, I’m two days late in posting the blog. I also picked a difficult subject to write about, but rather than picking something simpler and less self-involved, I can’t leave it alone, mainly because I’d have to think of a new topic.

You may have guessed by the title, but this week is about relationships. We’ll get to the zombie part later. I find myself in a unique position of being an authority on relationships. I have very little experience since I’ve had only two serious relationships, yet I have the self-righteous and smug attitude of someone who knows all there is to know about them. Interesting, how does this happen?

For some time now, I’ve been in a long distance relationship, something deemed impossible by most people. This probably isn’t the source of my know-it-all attitude, but it sure hasn’t helped things. My beau and I (yup, beau, deal with that) have endured over two years, most of it being separated by an ocean, and to my knowledge it hasn’t resulting in unhappiness, disconnectedness, or infidelity (unless daydreaming about Glee cast members counts as cheating). You could say we’ve been held together by an undying love that cannot be broken, but maybe it’s because we’re the two most practical and goal-oriented people on earth; put us together and we can make anything work. Maybe the love thing too.

So I thought I’d had this all down until I came across an article, how to make a long-distance relationship last through a zombie apocalypse. While we had discussed everything from finances to residential legality, we had never once sat down to make a plan of what to do in case of zombie take-over. Communication has always been the key, mostly because we don’t have much else. But not once had we communicated our possible personality issues in dealing with Z-day ( example: “When the undead take over, my biggest concern is that I don’t have the nautical engineering skills to build a raft that can make it all the way to Zimbabwe,” or, “I feel that my pacifist nature may be a handicap when we’re on the run from rabid hordes of flesh-eating monsters.”)

And how will we get to each other? I don’t want to be in a steel-reinforced van fighting to get to New York, only to find him gone and trekking down the great lakes in a beer-can raft to find me. Talk about a day ruiner. And where would we meet? I don’t even know where the nearest canned good and crossbow store is.

You can imagine this has thrown me through quite a loop. Maybe the experts are right, long distance is the wrong distance.

But fear not, I won’t lose faith. Yes, this is clearly a very serious personal problem I’ve chosen to blog about, but there will be other road blocks ahead. While my real-life Hugh Grant and I may think we work out problems before they begin and are just about the perfect couple, there are things that even the most meticulous Excel spreadsheet can’t plan for. Much like the zombie apocalypse, relationships are messy, complicated and terrifying. And the slutty one always dies first.

Apologies to my three or so loyal readers for the lack of a Tuesday blog. There were some computer-death related issues, but I’ll be careful not to let that stand in my way again.

My last blog, about my distaste for our school newspaper, leads me to this blog where I sort of emulate that super lame publication. You see, the incredibly large editorial/commentary page is filled with tearful goodbyes from the graduating seniors where they write long, rambling goodbyes to readers who don’t know who they are and frankly don’t care. Oh gee, editor Nicole what’s-her-face is leaving and never coming back? I wonder what thoughts she has about life at MSU. And what will she do next? The suspense is killing me.

And so, after mercilessly mocking that, I’m going to reflect. I’ve just finished my last assignment for the spring semester. Sure, I’m coming back in a week to do summer classes, but it’s just not the same. People have left town, many friends of mine adjusting to a new way of life for the summer and I’m on to finally finish what I started some ::loud cough:: years ago.

So while it’s not really the end of an era, it’s one step closer to leaving this place I’ve called home for so long. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not going to be digging in my heels in July praying for a Perkins open 24-hours near my place in Manhattan. Still, this place is where I’ve made some of the best friends I’ve ever had and became who I was. Whoa, intense.

So what is my reflection about? Shamelessly catering to the handful of people who read this blog? No, rather that life is unexpected. When I first came to Mankato, I was a shy, quiet snob, a Rory Gilmore type if you will. I didn’t get into the school I wanted and kind of resented being in a small town (I know, technically a city) in Minnesota. Now, I’m a louder snob with a little adventure under my belt who is going to miss these charming, simple people (just a joke, friends). Well done, Colleen. Well done.

Geez Colleen, that was pretty rambling. What the hell was your point? Hard to say. As a little goodbye to MSU, this blog is an homage to The Reporter without being painfully long. Now excuse me, even though it’s cloudy and miserable out, I’m going to put on my fabulous large sunglasses and hit the town. Or stay in, it’s rather cold.